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AT&T Gives Up on the iPad 3G Unlimited Data Plan

AT&T has announced new data plans for mobile Internet and smartphone tethering. While the company claims the new plans will make "mobile Internet more affordable to more people," there's also a glaring downside to the new pricing — no unlimited data plan for iPad customers.

AT&T now offers two mobile data plans: DataPlus, which provides 200 MB of data for $15 per month (additional 200 MB chunks of data also cost $15), and DataPro, which provides 2 GB of data for $25 per month, with every additional GB costing $10. Furthermore, smartphone customers can enable tethering for an additional $20 per month, but only if they use the DataPro plan.

Existing iPad customers, who already have the $29.99 unlimited monthly plan can choose to keep it, or switch to the DataPro plan.

New pricing is good news for smartphone customers, who won't go bankrupt if they exceed their monthly data limit. But from the iPad user's perspective, AT&T's new pricing is a big letdown compared to the previous unlimited data plan. Even the most active iPhone users won't burn through more than a couple of gigabytes every month, but the iPad is a far more demanding device data-wise, and activities such as Netflix streaming will quickly exceed the limit of AT&T's DataPro plan. Two gigabytes per month is just not enough data for a device such as the iPad, and we sense that many users will feel let down by AT&T's new data plans.

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